THEOSOPHICAL 

MANUALS 

I 

ELEMENTARY    THEOSOPHY 


f)P565 
£38 


The  Aryan  Theosophical  Press 
Point  Lomaf  California 


tihtavy  of  Che  'theological  Seminar;? 

PRINCETON  •  NEW  JERSEY 


FROM  THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE 

REVEREND  CHARLES  ROSENBURY  ERDMAN 
D.D.,  LL.D. 


.E38 


The  Aryan  Theosophical  Press 
Point  Loma,  California 


THEOSOPHICAL  MANUALS 


ELEMENTARY  THEOSOPHY 


BY 

A  STUDENT 

THIRD    EDITION 


The  Aryan  Theosophical  Press 

Point   Loma,   California 
1912 


Copyright,    1907,   by   Katherine   Tingley 


PREFACE 

npHE  remarks  under  this  head  are  intended 
■''  to  be  introductory  to  each  of  the  Manuals. 
First,  as  to  the  spirit  in  which  they  are  of- 
fered. These  Manuals  are  not  written  in  a 
controversial  spirit,  nor  as  an  addition  to  the 
stock  of  theories  awaiting  public  approval. 
The  writers  have  no  time  to  waste  in  arguing 
with  people  who  do  not  wish  to  be  convinced, 
or  who  ridicule  everything  which  is  new  to 
their  limited  outlook.  Their  message  is  for 
those  who  desire  to  know  —  those  who  are 
seeking  for  something  that  will  solve  their 
doubts  and  remove  their  difficulties.  For  such, 
all  that  is  needed  is  a  clear  exposition  of  the 
Theosophical  teachings;  for  they  will  judge 
of  the  truth  of  a  teaching  by  its  power  to  an- 
swer the  questions  they  ask.  People  realize, 
much  more  now  than  in  the  early  days  of  the 
Theosophical  Society,  the  value  of  Theosophy; 


iv  PREFACE 

for  the  ever-increasing  difficulties  engendered 
by  selfishness  and  materialism,  by  doubt  and 
the  multiplicity  of  theories,  have  created  an 
urgent  demand  which  it  alone  can  satisfy. 

Again,  it  is  necessary  to  state  clearly  and 
emphatically  the  genuine  teachings  of  Theo- 
sophy,  as  given  by  the  Founder  of  the  Theo- 
sophical  Society,  H.  P.  Blavatsky,  and  her 
successors,  William  Q.  Judge,  and  Katherine 
Tingley.  For,  as  H.  P.  Blavatsky  predicted, 
there  are  persons  who  have  sought  to  pervert 
these  teachings  and  turn  them  into  a  source 
of  profit  to  themselves  and  their  own  selfish 
and  ambitious  schemes.  The  true  teachings 
do  not  lend  themselves  to  such  purposes ;  their 
ideals  are  of  the  purest  and  most  unselfish. 
Hence  these  persons  have  sought  to  promul- 
gate under  the  name  of  Theosophy  a  perverted 
form  of  the  teachings,  from  which  Brotherli- 
ness  and  other  pure  motives  are  omitted,  and 
which  contains  doctrines  which  H.  P.  Blavat- 
sky showed  to  be  maleficent  and  destructive. 
As  these  pseudo-Theosophists  have  gained  a 
certain  amount  of  notoriety  by  using  the  names 
of  the  Theosophical  Society  and  its  Leaders, 
it  is  necessary  to  warn  the  public  against  them 


PRBPACB  V 

and  their  misrepresentations.  Their  teachings 
can  easily  be  shown,  by  comparison,  to  be  di- 
rectly contrary  to  those  of  H.  P.  Blavatsky, 
whom  they  nevertheless  profess  to  follow.  In- 
stead of  having  for  their  basis  self-sacrifice, 
self-purification,  and  the  elevation  of  the  hu- 
man race,  these  teachings  too  often  pander  to 
ambition,  vanity,  and  curiosity.  In  many  cases 
they  are  altogether  ridiculous,  and  only  cal- 
culated to  make  people  laugh.  Nevertheless'^; 
as  these  travesties  have  served  to  discredit  the 
name  of  Theosophy  and  to  keep  earnest  in- 
quirers away  from  the  truth,  it  is  well  that  the 
public  should  know  their  nature  and  origin. 
They  are  the  work  of  people  who  were  at  one 
time  members  of  the  Theosophical  Society, 
but  who  did  not  find  in  it  that  food  for  their 
own  personalities  of  which  they  were  really  in 
search.  So  they  turned  against  their  teachers 
in  wounded  pride  and  vanity,  and  started  little 
societies  of  their  own  —  with  themselves  at 
the  head. 

The  writers  of  these  Manuals  have  no  per- 
sonal grievance  against  any  such  calumniators. 
Inspired  by  a  profound  love  of  the  sublime 
teachings   of  Theosophy,   they  have  made  it 


vi  PREFACE 

their  life-work  to  bring  the  benefits  which  they 
have  thereby  received  within  the  reach  of  as 
many  people  as  possible.  And  they  feel  that 
they  will  have  the  hearty  sympathy  and  co- 
operation of  the  public  in  exposing  folly  and 
bringing  the  truth  to  light. 

Theosophy  strikes  unfamiliar  ground  in 
modern  civilization,  because  it  does  not  come 
under  any  particular  one  of  the  familiar  head- 
tngs  of  Religion,  Science,  Philosophy,  etc.,  into 
which  our  age  has  divided  its  speculative  ac- 
tivities. It  dates  back  to  a  period  in  the  history 
of  mankind  when  such  distinctions  did  not  ex- 
ist, but  there  was  one  Gnosis  or  Knowledge 
embracing  all.  Religion  and  Science,  as  we 
have  them  today,  are  but  imperfect  growths 
springing  from  the  remnants  of  that  great 
ancient  system,  the  Wisdom-Religion,  which 
included  all  that  we  now  know  as  religion  and 
science,  and  much  more.  Hence  Theosophy 
will  not  appeal  to  the  same  motives  as  religion 
and  science.  It  will  not  offer  any  cheap  and 
easy  salvation  or  put  a  premium  upon  mental 
inactivity  and  spiritual  selfishness.  Neither  can 
it  accommodate  itself  to  the  rules  laid  down 
by  various  schools  of  modern  thought  as  to 


PREFACE  vii 

what  constitutes  proof  and  what  does  not. 
But  it  can  and  does  appeal  to  the  Reason. 
The  truth  of  doctrines  such  as  Theosophy 
maintains,  can  only  be  estimated  by  their 
ability  to  solve  problems  and  by  their  harmony 
with  other  truths  which  we  know  to  be  true. 
But  in  addition  to  this  we  have  the  testimony 
of  the  ages,  which  has  been  too  long  neglected 
by  modern  scholarship,  but  which  is  now  being 
revealed  by  archaeologists  and  scholars,  as 
H.  P.  Blavatsky  prophesied  that  it  would  in 
this  century. 

It  may  perhaps  be  as  well  also  to  remind 
those  who  would  criticise,  that  the  state  of 
modern  opinion  is  scarcely  such  as  to  warrant 
anybody  in  assuming  the  attitude  of  a  judge. 
It  would  be  quite  proper  for  a  Theosophist, 
instead  of  answering  questions  or  attempting 
to  give  proofs,  to  demand  that  his  questioners 
should  first  state  their  own  case,  and  to  be 
himself  the  questioner.  The  result  would  cer- 
tainly show  that  Theosophy,  to  say  the  very 
least,  stands  on  an  equal  footing  with  any 
other  view,  since  there  is  no  certain  know- 
ledge, no  satisfying  explanation,  to  be  found 
anywhere. 


viii  PREFACE 

Since  the  daj^s  when  the  wave  of  material- 
ism swept  over  the  world,  obliterating  the 
traces  of  the  ancient  Wisdom-Religion  and 
replacing  it  by  theological  dogmatism,  our  re- 
ligions have  had  nothing  to  offer  us  in  the  way 
of  a  philosophical  explanation  of  the  laws  of 
Being  as  revealed  in  Man  and  in  Nature. 
Instead  we  have  only  had  bare  statements 
and  dogmatic  assertions.  The  higher  nature 
of  man  is  represented  by  such  vague  words 
as  Spirit  and  Soul,  which  have  little  or  no 
meaning  for  the  majority.  The  laws  of  the 
universe  are  briefly  summed  up  under  the 
term  "  God,"  and  all  further  consideration  of 
them  shut  off.  Then  came  a  reaction  against 
the  dogmatism  of  religion,  and  man  pinned 
his  faith  to  knowledge  gained  by  study  and 
reflection,  limiting  his  researches,  however,  to 
the  outer  world  as  presented  by  the  senses, 
and  fearing  to  trench  upon  the  ground  which 
dogmatic  theology  had  rendered  the  field  of 
so  much  contention.  The  result  of  this  has 
been  that  neither  in  religions  nor  sciences, 
have  we  any  teaching  about  the  higher  nature 
of  man  or  the  deeper  mysteries  of  the  universe. 
This  is  a  field  which  is  left  entirely  unexplored, 


PREFACE  ix 

or  is  at  best  the  subject  of  tentative  and  un- 
guided  conjectures. 

Until,  therefore,  religious  teachers  have 
something  definite,  consistent,  and  satisfac- 
tory to  offer,  and  until  science  can  give  us 
something  better  than  mere  confessions  of 
nescience  or  impudent  denials  with  regard  to 
everything  beyond  its  own  domain,  Theosophy 
can  afford  to  assume  the  role  of  questioner 
rather  than  that  of  questioned,  and  does  not 
owe  anybody  any  explanations  whatever.  It 
is  sufficient  to  state  its  tenets  and  let  them 
vindicate  themselves  by  their  greater  reason- 
ableness; and  any  further  explanation  that 
may  be  offered  is  offered  rather  from  good 
will  than  from  any  obligation. 

Theosophy  undertakes  to  explain  that  which 
other  systems  leave  unexplained,  and  is,  on 
its  own  special  ground,  without  a  competitor. 
It  can  issue  a  challenge  to  theology,  science, 
and  other  modern  systems,  to  surpass  it  in 
giving  a  rational  explanation  of  the  facts  of 
life. 

Again,  there  are  some  questions  which  it  is 
beyond  the  reach  of  the  human  mind,  in  its 
present  stage  of  development,  to  answer ;   and 


X  PREFACE 

it  would  scarcely  be  just  to  arraign  Theosophy 
for  not  answering  these. 

Judgment  should  in  all  cases  be  preceded 
by  careful  study.  There  are  always  those 
who  will  impatiently  rush  to  questions  which 
a  further  study  would  have  rendered  un- 
necessary; and  it  is  safe  to  say  that  the 
majority  of  "  objections  "  raised  to  Theosoph- 
ical  teachings  are  such  as  could  have  been 
solved  by  the  objector  himself,  had  he  been 
a  genuine  student.  In  the  ordinary  courses 
of  education,  scholars  are  required  and  are 
content,  to  accept  provisionally  many  of  the 
teachers'  statements,  in  full  confidence  that 
further  study  will  explain  what  in  the  begin- 
ning cannot  be  made  clear.  In  the  same 
spirit  an  earnest  student  of  Theosophy  will 
be  wise  enough  to  hold  many  of  his  difficul- 
ties in  reserve,  until,  by  further  investigation, 
he  has  gained  better  acquaintance  with  his 
subject.  In  the  case  of  those  who  are  not 
willing  to  adopt  these  wise  and  patient  meth- 
ods of  study,  it  may  be  reasonably  questioned 
whether  they  are  the  more  anxious  to  learn 
or  to  disprove. 

Above  all  it  is  sought  to  make  these  Man- 


PRBFACB  xi 

uals  such  that  they  shall  appeal  to  the  heart 
and  not  merely  to  the  head;  that  they  shall 
be  of  practical  service  to  the  reader  in  the 
problems  of  his  daily  life,  and  not  mere  intel- 
lectual exercises.  For  there  have  been  in 
past  days  books  written  by  persons  more  dis- 
tinguished for  a  certain  grade  of  mental  nim- 
bleness  than  for  heartfelt  devotion  to  the 
cause  of  truth;  and  these  have  appealed  only 
to  those  people  who  love  intricate  philosophi- 
cal problems  better  than  practical  work.  But 
as  H.  P.  Blavatsky  so  frequently  urged,  the 
message  of  Theosophy  is  for  suffering  human- 
ity; and  the  great  Teachers,  whose  sole  pur- 
pose is  to  bring  to  mankind  the  Light  of 
Truth  and  the  saving  grace  of  real  Brother- 
liness  can  have  no  interest  in  catering  for 
the  mental  curiosity  of  merely  a  few  well- 
to-do  individuals.  Even  soulless  men,  said 
H.  P.  Blavatsky,  can  be  brilliantly  intellectual ; 
but  for  those  who  are  in  earnest  in  their  de- 
sire to  reach  the  higher  life  intellectual  fire- 
works alone  will  have  little  attraction.  We 
intend,  therefore,  to  keep  the  practical  aspect 
of  the  teachings  always  to  the  front,  and  to 
show,  as  far  as  possible,  that  they  are  what 


xii  PREFACE 

they  claim  to  be  —  the  gospel  of  a  new  hope 
and  salvation  for  humanity. 

These  Booklets  are  not  all  the  product  of 
a  single  pen,  but  are  written  by  different 
Students  at  the  International  Headquarters 
of  the  Unive:rsal  Brotherhood  and  Theo- 
SOPHICAL  Society  at  Point  Loma,  California. 
Each  writer  has  contributed  his  own  quota  to 
the  series. 

For  further  explanations  on  Theosophy 
generally,  the  reader  is  referred  to  the  Book 
List  published  elsewhere  in  this  volume  and  to 
the  other  Manuals  of  this  series,  which  treat 
of  Theosophy  and  the  various  Theosophical 
teachings. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Elementary  Theosophy      1 

Who  is  the  Man  ?      5 

Body   and    Soul      10 

Body,   Soul  and   Spirit      16 

Reincarnation      22 

Karma      *^^ 

The  Seven  in  Man  and  Nature     39 

The  Meaning  of  Death     48 

The  Source  of  Theosophical  Teaching     .  .  53 


ELEMENTARY  THEOSOPHY 

T^VERY  one  knows  that  the  great  rehgions 
of  the  world  dijfcr  from  each  other ;  and 
also  that  in  respect  to  the  path  of  life  in 
which  they  tell  men  to  walk,  they  resemble 
each  other.  They  present  also  many  other  re- 
semblances and  identities. 

It  has  not  yet  occnrred  to  our  scholars 
that  there  may  be  one  great  religion  of  which 
all  these  are  parts. 

Nations  have  always  differed  in  their  char- 
acteristics, the  difference  being  sometimes  due 
to  the  region  in  which  they  dwelt,  sometimes 
to  other  causes.  One  people  would  be  imagin- 
ative, another  philosophical,  another  simple ; 
one  pastoral,  another  nomadic;  one  peaceful, 
another  active  and  warlike.  One  dwells  amid 
smiling  plains,  another  by  the  rock-ribbed  sea. 

If  we  were  to  tell  some  storv  of  science, 


2  ELEMENTARY   THEOSOPHY 

say  about  atoms  and  molecules,  to  the  classes 
of  a  school,  we  should  not  use  the  same  lan- 
guage to  the  little  children  as  to  the  elders. 
To  every  class  we  should  tell  the  story  differ- 
ently. If  we  were  wise  we  should  illustrate 
it  from  the  games  and  stories  that  the  children 
already  knew.  To  the  very  little  ones  we 
might  make  the  atoms  talk  and  play,  and 
so  we  might  teach  chemistry  in  the  guise  of 
a  fairy  tale.  To  the  boys  that  were  older 
we  might  picture  the  atoms  as  marbles  and 
balls ;  to  artistic  children  we  might  dwell  most 
on  the  colors  and  sounds  resulting  from  the 
movements  and  groupings  of  atoms  and  mole- 
cules. And  to  the  higher  classes  we  should 
begin  to  introduce  some  of  the  abstruse 
mathematics  which  are  concerned  in  these 
questions.  We  might  put  the  case  so  differ- 
ently to  the  highest  and  lowest  classes  that 
anyone  who  heard  us  talking  to  both  might 
not  guess  that  we  were  talking  about  the  same 
things.  Yet  we  should  be.  And  if  the  child- 
ren, on  going  home,  tried  to  tell  their  parents 
in  their  own  words  what  they  had  heard,  the 


BIBMBNTARY   THEOSOPHY  3 

unlikeness  would  become  still  greater,  for 
they  would  be  adding  and  leaving  out. 

The  word  Theosophy  is  a  blend  of  two 
Greek  words.  Together  they  mean  divine 
wisdom,  and  also  wisdom  concerning  divine 
things.  There  is  a  similar  Sanskrit  compound, 
Brahmavidya,  properly  meaning  the  same 
things. 

Theosophy  itself  is  that  complete  story  of 
the  world  and  man,  of  which  a  part  has  been 
told  to  every  people,  a  part  suited  to  their 
needs  and  development  and  peculiarities,  and 
told  in  language  appropriate  to  their  under- 
standing. 

But  however  simply  it  had  to  be  told,  there 
were  always  some  among  every  people  whose 
comprehension  ran  beyond  that  of  their  fel- 
lows, and  who  had  prepared  themselves  to  fol- 
low the  path  of  life  more  stedfastly.  To  such, 
more  was  told.  And  so  we  find  everywhere 
this  fact  of  two  doctrines,  one  for  the  multi- 
tude and  one  for  the  f ew  —  that  latter,  for 
certain  reasons  mentioned  elsewhere,  always 
told  under  pledge  of  secrecy.    Jesus  Christ,  for 


4  ELEMENTARY   THEOSOPHY 

example,  said  that  to  the  multitude  he  spoke 
in  simple  parables  —  like  the  fairy-stories  of 
our  illustration ;  but  that  to  the  elect  he  spoke 
fully  the  Mysteries  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven 
—  like  the  abstruse  mathematics  of  our  illus- 
tration. 

Sometime  in  the  near  future,  scholars  will 
be  compelled  by  the  force  of  their  own  facts 
to  recognize  the  common  container  and  source 
of  the  world's  great  religions.  Their  research- 
es would  immediately  be  easier  and  more 
fruitful  if  they  would  but  take  its  existence 
as  a  hypothesis  only.  Prosecuting  their  studies 
in  its  light  they  would  soon  be  rewarded  by 
seeing  emerge  from  the  confusion  the  majestic 
outlines  of  the  religion-philosophy  now  known 
as  Theosophy,  But  those  who  wish  to  under- 
stand it  need  not  wait  till  then,  nor  need  they 
proceed  by  that  method. 


II 

WHO  IS  THE  MAN? 

'T'HE  first  question  answered  by  Theosophy, 
a  question  upon  which  all  else  depends, 
is:  Who  am  If  If  the  answer:  You  are 
yourself,  seems  silly,  that  is  only  at  first 
glance. 

Nearly  every  one  thinks  of  himself  as  identi- 
cal with  the  body.  Is  this  the  case?  If  it 
is,  any  talk  about  the  soul,  or  immortality, 
is  necessarily  absurd. 

We  use  the  body:  command  it;  work  with 
it  and  train  it,  all  as  we  w^ill.  With  it  we 
see,  hear,  touch,  taste,  and  smell,  employing 
each  sense  just  as  we  choose.  It  is  obviously 
an  instrument  at  our  disposal,  a  wonderfully 
complicated  tool. 

Can  it  then  be  the  man?  Can  a  player 
be  identical  with  his  instrument,  a  carpenter 
with   his  hammer?     Yet  we  habitually  blind 


6  ELBMBNTARY   THBOSOPHY 

ourselves  to  the  difference  by  saying  /  am 
ill,  or  growing  old,  forgetting  that  so  far 
as  we  know,  it  is  the  body  only,  not  the  man, 
which  is  subject  to  these  changes. 

If  then  the  man,  the  soul,  is  not  identical 
with  the  body,  it  will  be  natural  to  ask  what 
becomes  of  him  when,  as  we  say,  he  is  un- 
conscious, or  asleep,  or  dead;  when  in  old 
age  his  memory  is  gone,  his  mind  childish 
once  more,  his  limbs  stiff  or  paralysed.  Sure- 
ly we  must  admit  that  in  these  cases  the  man 
himself  must  have  changed. 

From  this  point  of  view  it  does  look  as 
if  the  man  and  his  body  were  one  and  the 
same,  since  he  seems  to  change  with  its 
changes.  Let  us  go  a  step  or  two  further  and 
then  come  back. 

All  the  waking  hours  we  are  conscious  of 
a  stream  of  thoughts.  We  cannot  stop  the 
stream,  but  we  can  generally  direct  it  where 
we  will.  We  can  cause  our  thought  to  occupy 
itself  with  whatever  we  choose.  We  can  stop 
thinking  of  any  one  thing  and  think  of  any 
other.     It  is  not  always  easy,   for  the  mind 


WHO   IS   THE  MAN?  7 

seems  to  be  a  living  thing  with  wishes  of  its 
own;   but  it  is  always  possible. 

So  for  two  reasons  it  seems  clear  that  the 
mind  is  not  the  man.  First  because,  like  a 
restive  horse  it  often  opposes  the  wishes  of 
its  owner ;  and  secondly,  because  the  man  can, 
if  he  uses  will  enough,  turn  it  where  he  will 
as  a  carpenter  turns  a  chisel.  Yet  again  we 
must  ask  what  becomes  of  the  man  when  his 
mind  becomes  delirious  in  fever  or  childish 
in  old  age. 

And  then  there  are  the  feelings,  emotions. 
These  too  go  on  all  day.  We  are  by  turns 
happy  or  miserable,  hopeful  or  despairing,  irri- 
tated or  calm,  compassionate  or  resentful. 
But  these  too  we  can  control,  especially  if 
we  have  practised  doing  so.  We  can  refuse 
to  be  miserable  or  ruffled;  we  can  compel 
ourselves  to  be  hopeful,  compassionate,  con- 
siderate. Feelings  also  have  a  life  and  per- 
sistency of  their  own  and  may  object  to  be- 
ing controlled.  But  as,  with  practice,  we  can 
do  it,  it  seems  that  they  also  cannot  be  the  man. 

Having  thus  noted  that  mind  and  emotion 


8  BLBMBNTARY   THEO SOPHY 

are,  or  ought  to  be,  both  under  control  of  the 
man,  the  soul,  through  his  will,  we  note  next 
that  there  is  a  limit  to  this  control.  Both 
need  a  healthy  body  for  their  perfect  health, 
and  if  the  body  is  fevered  or  very  old,  mind 
and  feeling  are  likely  to  be  dim  and  feeble, 
or  even  quite  distorted,  despite  every  effort 
of  the  will.  We  have  no  warrant  for  saying 
that  the  man  necessarily  varies  with  variations 
in  his  body;  but  we  must  say  that  to  a  very 
great  extent  the  mind  and  emotions  do.  So 
far  as  they  do  not,  it  is  because  they  are  sus- 
tained and  guided  by  the  will. 

This  leads  to  the  next  point.  However  ill 
or  old  the  body  may  be,  however  unrespon- 
sive to  the  man's  will,  and  however  dimmed 
may  be  the  mind  and  feelings,  the  will  itself 
and  the  man  who  uses  it  may  be  quite  un- 
changed. We  sometimes  see  that  up  to  the 
very  moment  of  death,  the  man  may  be  using 
his  will  in  its  full  strength.  The  results  may 
be  small ;  the  stiffening  lips  may  refuse  to 
utter  more  than  a  few  words,  perhaps  of  love 
and   encouragement    to   those    about ;     but   it 


WHO   IS   THE  MAN?  9 

is  evident  that  whatever  else  is  dying,  the  man 
and  the  will  are  not.  Even  at  the  very  moment 
of  death  the  eye  may  still  be  speaking  its 
message.  The  man,  the  soul,  and  its  will, 
are  passing  on  in  full  consciousness.  And 
the  last  gleam  we  get  of  that  consciousness 
is  often  one  of  unchanged,  unlessened  love 
for  those  remaining  behind. 

So  w^e  have  arrived  at  some  answer  to  our 
question:  JVJiaf,  or  ivho,  am  If  Let  us  call 
"  I "  the  soul,,  and  read  our  answer  thus : 
The  soul,  the  I,  the  self,  is  that  conscious 
power  which  dwells  during  life  in  the  body, 
amidst  the  bodily  feelings,  amidst  the  emo- 
tions, capable  of  dominating  them ;  using  the 
mind  and  capable  of  dominating  it;  having 
for  its  instrument  of  control  the  will.  So 
far  as  we  can  see,  neither  the  soul,  nor  its 
will,  nor  its  degree  of  love  for  those  it  leaves 
behind,  are  necessarily  affected  by  illness  or 
bv  death. 


Ill 

BODY  AND  SOUL 

TF  we  now  turn  to  Paul's  description  of 
man  as  a  compound  of  body,  soul,  and 
spirit,  we  can  more  easily  understand  what 
he  meant. 

By  soul  he  seems  to  have  meant  the  same 
as  we  do  —  the  man  himself  with  his  will 
and  power  of  choice;  by  body,  not  only  the 
casement  of  flesh,  but  all  the  impulses  arising 
from  it  which  tend  to  pull  the  man  downward  ; 
and  by  spirit,  the  divine  part. 

The  body  —  made  up  of  millions  of  little 
living  cells  congregated  into  various  organs, 
which  should  all  work  harmoniously  togeth- 
er —  is  an  animal,  the  highest  of  all  the  ani- 
mals. It  is  the  highest  because  of  the  devel- 
opment of  its  brain ;  and  because  of  that 
it  is  a  fit  tenement  for  the  soul,  the  man  him- 
self.   Thus  the  soul  contacts,  in  the  body,  the 


BODY  AND  SOUL  U 

highest  sort  of  matter-hfe.  In  order  that  it 
may  do  that,  that  it  may  have  that  experience, 
is,  according  to  Theosophy,  one  of  the  reasons 
why  it  enters  the  body  and  shares  the  body's 
Hfe  from  birth  to  death. 

In  order  to  understand  its  entry,  let  us 
imagine  a  countryman  suddenly  set  down  for 
the  first  time  in  the  midst  of  a  thronging 
city.  People  are  hurrying  in  every  direction ; 
there  are  a  thousand  sounds  at  once,  voices, 
the  feet  of  horses,  the  roar  of  vehicles. 

Accustomed  to  the  quiet  of  the  country,  the 
man  would  be  dazed  by  so  much  activity; 
he  would  hardly  know  himself.  His  usual 
current  of  thoughts  would  be  broken  up.  It 
would  seem  to  him  as  if  he  would  never  find 
his  way  through  the  maze  of  streets.  Alto- 
gether it  would  be  a  sort  of  new  birth  for 
him,   the  confused  beginning  of   a  new   life. 

In  the  eyes  of  a  new-born  infant  we  can 
sometimes  see  signs  of  a  similar  bewilderment. 
The  soul  is  just  then  beginning  to  enter  the 
little  body.  The  body  is  alive  with  the  intense 
life  of  all  its  millions  of  active  cells  and  or- 


12  ELBMBNTARV   THEOSOPHY 

gans.  Besides  all  the  growth  and  activity 
that  is  going  on  in  the  body  itself,  the  senses 
are  opening  and  stirring  and  bringing  in  all 
the  new  sights  and  sounds  of  the  outer  world. 
Is  it  not  natural  that  in  all  this  rush  of  new^ 
experiences,  the  soul  should  forget  itself  and 
the  world  it  has  just  left? 

To  return  to  the  illustration.  After  a  while, 
beginning  to  understand  his  new  surround- 
ings, the  man  would  begin  to  take  pleasure  in 
them  and  be  absorbed  in  them.  Laying  aside 
all  his  old  country  habits  and  thoughts,  he 
would  enter  thoroughly  into  the  nevr  life  of 
the  city.  He  would  become  accommodated  to 
its  w^ays  and  dive  into  the  rushing  stream  of 
its  business  and  activities.  His  nature  might 
seem  to  change  altogether  and  in  a  few  years 
he  might  have  lost  all  trace  and  almost  all 
memory  of  having  lived  the  quiet  life  of  the 
countr}^ 

And  so  again  with  the  soul.  During  the 
first  few  years  of  its  new  life,  after  the  first 
confusion  has  worn  away,  it  becomes  thor- 
oughly absorbed  in  the  life  of  the  body.     Its 


BODY  AND  SOUL  13 

pleasures  are  those  of  the  body ;  its  aims  are 
mostly  to  get  more  of  these  pleasures ;  its 
thoughts  and  feelings  are  all  occupied  with 
the  world  of  which  its  body  is  a  part.  It 
thinks  of  the  body  as  itself  and  of  itself  as 
the  body.  The  higher  life  it  had  before  birth 
is  quite  forgotten.  And  as  it  grows  older  in- 
to manhood  or  womanhood  and  the  strain  of 
our  modern  competitive  life  begins  to  be  felt, 
its  absorption  into  the  world  becomes  com- 
pleter. All  its  ambitions  may  be  directed  to 
getting  things  for  the  body's  comfort  and 
luxury.  Its  forgetfulness  of  the  other  life 
may  be  so  complete  as  to  lead  to  disbelief  in 
it  altogether,  to  materialism.  At  best,  the 
memory  of  the  other  life  is  so  vague  that  there 
are  no  details,  no  clear  picture.  It  is  so 
vague  that  we  do  not  know  that  it  is  memory 
and  call  it  faith.  And  for  a  reason  which 
the  man  therefore  cannot  give  to  himself,  but 
which  is  really  this  faith-memory,  he  accepts 
tlie  accounts  of  the  higher  life  which  some 
one  of  the  various  religious  creeds  gives  him. 
But  curiously  enough,  though  all  the  creeds 


14  ELEMENTARY   THEOSOPHY 

speak  of  the  soul  entering  a  higher  life  after 
death,  some  of  them  say  nothing  of  the  soul 
leaving  the  same  higher  life  at  birth. 

We  can  see  now  why  the  body  is  sometimes 
spoken  of  as  the  enemy  of  the  soul.  It  tends 
to  drown  the  soul's  memories,  the  soul's  know- 
ledge of  itself.  It  often  paralyses  the  will, 
substituting  for  the  will  some  passion  of  its 
own  —  for  example,  to  get  money  or  position. 
Such  people  are  really  slaves,  not  masters; 
though  they  only  know  their  slavery  when 
they  try  to  free  themselves,  when  they  try 
to  use  their  will  to  conquer  the  master  passion. 
We  must  remember  that  though  the  body  is 
an  animal,  it  is  an  animal  which  has  become 
humanized  through  the  presence  of  a  human 
soul  in  its  midst.  The  soul  lights  up  in  it  a 
higher  intelligence  than  it  could  ever  have 
gotten  as  a  simple  animal.  And  so  it  has 
thoughts  and  aims  which  are  not  possible  to 
any  of  the  simpler  creatures  below  man.  If 
the  soul  yields  to  it  constantly,  never  assert- 
ing its  will,  letting  itself  be  carried  upon 
every  wind  of  passion,  the  man  may  reach  a 


BODY  AND  SOUL  15 

point  at  which  he  gives  not  a  single  sign  of 
being  a  soul  at  all.  Some  of  these  people 
are  mere  sensualists,  the  utter  slaves  of  some 
degrading  passion.  But  they  may  be  highly 
intelligent,  cruel,  selfish  and  ambitious,  with- 
out the  slightest  care  for  the  welfare  of  any 
other  person.  The  animal  has  won  the  battle 
of  that  life,  and  after  death  the  soul's  key 
to  its  own  proper  world  is  too  rusty  for  use. 
It  is  by  resisting  passions,  by  resisting  self- 
ishness, and  cultivating  compassion  and  bro- 
therliness,  by  constant  aspirations,  and  by  try- 
ing to  live  the  life  of  the  higher  nature,  that 
the  soul  comes  while  in  the  body  to  a  know- 
ledge of  itself  and  its  immortality. 


IV 

BODY,  SOUL  AND  SPIRIT 

\7t7HY,  then,  if  entry  into  the  body  means 
so  much  loss  to  the  soul,  even  if  only 
temporary,  does  it  come  there  at  all? 

The  answer  given  by  Theosophy  is  —  that 
it  may  gain  higher  life,  and  that  it  may  give 
higher  life.  It  is  divine,  but  it  has  to  recog- 
nize that  while  in  the  flesh ;  and  there  is 
always  a  fuller  divinity  possible  to  the  very 
highest  man. 

Theosophy  sees  life  everywhere;  nowhere 
anything  dead.  It  may  at  once  be  asked  — 
is  not  a  human  body  dead  when  the  soul  has 
left  it  for  another  world? 

If  we  had  eyes  that  could  see,  we  should 
find  that  the  body  was  as  much  alive  as  ever, 
but  with  a  different  kind  of  life.  The  little 
busy  souls  of  the  millions  of  cells,  which, 
while   the    man   was    present,    served    him  — 


BODY,  SOUL  AND  SPIRIT  17 

left  the  body  with  him,  or  very  soon  after. 
Their  place  is  taken  by  throngs  of  lower  lives, 
germs,  in  their  way  just  as  busy.  Part  of 
each  cell  goes  to  form  their  minute  living 
bodies;  the  rest  separates  into  molecules  of 
water,  various  gases,  and  salts.  But  the  mole- 
cules too  are  alive.  They  behave  like  a  drill 
corps  when  the  sergeant  dismisses  it.  The 
men  no  longer  make  a  corps,  and  each  goes 
his  own  way.  One  will  perhaps  join  a  party 
going  swimming:  another  may  go  to  a  music 
class.  When  the  bath  and  the  class  are  over, 
the  men  again  separate  and  group  together 
in  new  combinations.  At  the  end  of  the  day 
they  may  seem  just  the  same  as  at  the  begin- 
ning. But  as  a  matter  of  fact  they  are  not. 
Each  has  profited  a  little  by  the  drill,  the 
music,  and  the  swim. 

So  with  the  living  particles  of  nature's  vast 
life,  the  particles  that  we  call  molecules  of 
water,  air,  salt,  iron,  and  so  on.  They  pass 
from  one  combination  to  another,  sometimes 
forming  part  of  a  plant,  sometimes  of  an  ani- 
mal, sometimes  of  a  human  body,  the  ocean, 


18  BLEMENTARY   THEOSOPHY 

or  a  stone.  Age  after  age  they  are  awakening 
to  fuller  consciousness,  learning,  even  though 
if  we  watched  them  for  ages  we  might  not 
notice  any  change. 

What  are  they  learning?  The  power  to 
combine  into  higher  groups.  Science  knows 
that  from  the  birth  of  our  planet  until  now, 
life  has  been  rising.  The  orders  and  species 
have  been  progressing  to  higher  forms.  This 
was  because  the  molecules  were  learning  how 
to  combine.  At  last  they  could  combine  and 
recombine  so  as  to  make  the  body  of  man  ; 
and  then  man,  the  soul,  came  and  dwelt  among 
them.     It  was  at  last  a  fit  tabernacle. 

So,  however  completely  at  death  the  mole- 
cules scatter,  they  can  now  always  be  brought 
together  again  to  make  a  human  form.  What 
nature  has  been  teaching  them  is  the  power  to 
combine  into  higher  and  more  perfectly  har- 
monious forms,  forms  of  which  all  the  parts 
work  together  to  a  higher  end. 

And  that  very  same  thing  she  is  teaching 
man.  INIan,  according  to  Theosophy,  rein- 
carnates again  and  again  on  earth,  living  life 


BODY,   SOUL   AND   SPIRIT  19 

after  life,  not  one  only.  We  are  grouped 
again  and  again  in  all  kinds  of  ways.  Among 
savages  there  are  small  groups,  the  family  and 
the  tribe.  Tribes  make  nations;  nations  dis- 
appear, and  others  come  up  on  to  the  stage 
of  history.  A  nation  is  like  a  body;  the  vari- 
ous groups,  made  of  men  who  follow  various 
occupations,  who  are  joined  for  various  ends, 
.or  who  live  together  in  towns  and  cities,  are 
the  organs  of  the  body.  Each  man  is  a  separ- 
ate cell.  Men  leave  one  nation  at  death  and 
perhaps  enter  another,  making  part  of  all 
sorts  of  families  and  groups  as  they  go 
along. 

What  we  are  slowly  learning  is  the  power 
to  hold  together,  the  power  to  work  for  each 
other  and  for  the  whole  of  which  we  are  a 
part,  whether  a  guild,  a  family,  a  city,  or  a 
nation;  the  power  of  divine  comradeship  of 
men  and  groups  and  nations  to  make  one  vast 
harmonious  organization,  the  body  of  human- 
ity. Then  a  further  avenue  of  progress  lead- 
ing to  heights  we  cannot  conceive  of,  will 
be  open  before  us. 


20  BLEMBNTARY  THBOSOPHY 

Behind  us  are  the  animals,  moving  man- 
ward,  getting  the  human  touch  age  after  age, 
to  be  the  humanity  that  shall  follow  us  when 
we  have  learned  our  lesson  and  gone  on  — 
perhaps  to  another  planet,  the  "  child  "  of  this 
one,  says  Theosophy.  Behind  them,  the  plants, 
some  of  them  —  like  the  sensitive  plant  for 
instance  —  already  showing  the  tendency  up- 
ward to  the  animal. 

So  we  can  see  that  we  are  in  the  body  for 
several  purposes. 

First,  that  in  it  and  through  it  we  may  touch 
nature,  and  learn  the  wise  use  of  her  forces. 

Second,  that  we  may  teach,  and  help  nature 
in  her  teaching.  Among  the  cells,  the  little 
lives,  of  our  bodies,  we  are  like  a  master  in 
his  class.  In  controlling  our  impulses,  in 
resisting  deeds  that  make  for  moral  and  physi- 
cal disease,  in  living  in  every  way  the  highest 
and  purest  life  we  can,  we  are  training  the 
lower  lives  that  clothe  us  on  the  one  hand; 
and  training  ourselves  on  the  other.  In  train- 
ing his  boys,  the  master  trains  himself.    And 


BODY,   SOUL   AND    SPIRIT  21 

whilst  they  learn  from  him,  he  learns  much 
from  them. 

Thirdly,  we  are  here  that  we  may  learn 
brotherhood,  the  higher  comradeship,  that 
quality  which,  spreading  all  over  the  earth, 
will  one  day  open  a  new  door  to  us,  leading 
to  a  height  of  happiness  and  power  that  has 
always  been  the  ideal  before  the  eyes  of 
humanity's  helpers  and  Teachers. 


REINCARNATION 

V 

T  N  a  preceding  chapter  we  have  considered 
incarnation.      It   now   remains   to   say   a 
little  of  r^-incarnation. 

Is  one  life  enough  to  learn  all  that  there  is 
to  do  and  to  learn  on  earth?  Are  we  perfect 
characters?  Have  we  made  life  on  earth  all 
it  might  be,  learned  to  live  in  harmony  with 
each  other,  developed  all  the  faculties  pos- 
sible to  us,  learned  all  about  the  life  of  the 
matter  of  which  the  planet  is  composed?  If 
not,  does  it  not  seem  likely  that  the  causes 
which  brought  us  here  once  may  bring  us 
again,  and  again,  until  we  have  done  these 
things?  Law  and  inclination  will  work  to- 
gether and  supplement  each  other.  For  those 
who  die  hating,  there  is  the  Law  that  they 
shall  return  in  order  to  learn  to  love.  Those 
who  die  loving,  will  wish  to  return  to  those 


REINCARNATION  23 

they  love.  Would  one  who  loves  all  humanity 
and  pities  it  in  its  pains  and  struggles  onward, 
willingly  leave  it  for  ever  while  he  knew  there 
was  help  he  could  render? 

What  right  have  we  earned  to  some  other 
heaven  while  we  have  not  made  this  life  the 
heaven  it  might  be?  Nearly  all  of  us  have 
done  injuries  and  given  pain  at  some  time. 
If  we  consider  that,  should  we  not  wish  to 
come  again  to  pour  at  least  as  much  good 
into  the  stream  of  human  life  as  we  poured 
evil;  to  meet  those  that  we  once  pained,  and 
by  loving  deed  take  away  the  pain  —  even  if 
time  should  have  covered  it  over  and  hidden 
the  wound?  Sudden  unexplained  impulses 
to  do  kind  actions  to  people  we  have  never 
met  (in  this  life)  before,  may  sometimes  be 
unconscious  desire  to  pay  some  debt  of  old 
unkindness. 

We  are  not  without  other  suggestions  of 
previous  life.  Some  people  we  seem  to  re- 
cognize at  once,  liking  or  disliking,  as  we  say 
by  instinct.  May  it  not  be  the  mere  re- 
suming  of  an   old   like  or   dislike?     In  that 


24  ELBMBNTARY  THBOSOPHY 

sense  it  is  a  real  memory  of  a  past  life,  though 
all  details  are  forgotten.  We  have  many  more 
of  such  memories,  memories  that  in  such 
cases  are  forces,  not  details.  We  are  born 
with  marked  characters,  tastes,  aptitudes,  pow- 
ers, in  this  or  that  direction.  Where  did  we 
get  them  ?  Where  did  the  infant  Mozart  learn 
music?  Is  it  heredity?  But  how  when  these 
things  have  no  counterpart  in  the  parents? 
They  are  surely  a  species  of  memory.  Clear- 
er memory  we  have  not  because  we  have 
not  the  old  brain.  The  brain,  the  first  fact- 
storer,  is  new.  The  soul,  the  real  and  final 
fact-storer,  has  its  memory  overlaid  by  the 
throng  of  impressions  and  sensations  that  life 
and  the  living  body  bring.  At  death  we  have 
often  heard  —  and  Theosophy  teaches  —  that 
every  detail  of  the  closing  or  closed  life  comes 
up  from  the  brain  before  the  gaze  of  the 
departing  soul.  It  registers  in  its  own  memory 
all  that  are  of  value  to  it  and  they  become 
eternal.  But  at  its  birth  it  does  not  fill  the 
new  brain  with  them.  The  tablets  of  the 
brain  are  wanted  for  other  things.     It  merely 


REINCARNATION  25 

brings  into  the  brain  and  body  the  general 
effect,  some  general  memories,  as  we  have 
noted. 

When  we  have  grown  stronger  in  life, 
when  birth  does  7iot  bring  bewilderment,  when 
we  shall  have  learned  not  to  be  the  prey 
of  the  body  but  its  strong  and  quiet  master, 
then  we  shall  have  also  learned  to  bring  back 
to  our  own  attention,  at  need,  whatever  clear 
memories  of  the  past  will  be  useful.  But  so 
far,  the  presence  of  such  detailed  memories 
would  be  confusing  and  painful,  diverting  our 
attention  from  more  important  work.  What- 
ever we  acquired  in  the  last  life,  of  unselfish- 
ness, of  will,  of  power  of  concentration,  of 
power  of  thought  and  observation,  of  power 
of  self-control  —  that  we  bring  undiminished 
for  use  in  this  life;  and  it  is  enough.  Any- 
thing more,  if  in  part  useful,  would  have  its 
usefulness  outweighed  by  its  painfulness  and 
confusion.  We  should  be  tempted  to  dwell 
with  bygone  memories  instead  of  with  pres- 
ent duties. 

It  will  be  natural  to  say:    Have  I  then  to 


26  BLBMBNTARY  TH  BO  SOPHY 

be  an  infant  and  an  old  man  again  and  again, 
with  childish  faculties  and  pleasure  in  the  one 
case,  and  fading  faculties  and  second  childish- 
ness in  the  other? 

Are  we  entitled  to  promotion  to  another 
lesson  till  we  have  learned  well  the  one  in 
hand?  We  have  not  yet  learned  to  be  an  in- 
fant properly,  or  an  old  man  or  woman  prop- 
erly. These  are  lessons  of  life  still  unlearned. 
The  soul  of  each  of  us  has  yet  to  learn,  at 
and  after  birth,  to  stand  apart  from  the  in- 
fant body  in  which  it  will  incarnate;  and, 
while  watching  and  protecting  and  guiding  and 
developing  that,  to  keep  up  its  own  work  and 
self-conscious  being.  For  the  soul  has  work 
of  its  own.  As  the  infant  body  and  mind  pass 
to  childhood  and  manhood,  the  soul  will  con- 
sciously blend  itself  more  and  more;  until  at 
last,  still  holding  itself  as  a  soul,  it  will  have 
wholly  incarnated.  But  at  present  it  cannot 
do  that  in  the  case  of  ordinary  humanity.  As 
it  detaches  itself  from  its  own  world,  from 
its  "  Father  in  Secret,"  it  loses  itself  in  the 
body.     With  most  of  us  it  remains   almost 


REINCARNATION  27 

lost   till   death   again    frees   it,   without   ever 
having  recognized  itself  as  a  soul. 

But  when  we  have  learned  infancy,  we 
shall  find  one  of  our  joys  in  overshadowing 
and  training  the  young  life  with  which  in  due 
course  we  shall  blend  our  soul-life  to  make 
the  perfect  man;  and  in  helping  the  vivid 
little  lives  that  make  up  the  infant  body,  to 
move  a  step  onward  in  their  progress.  Those 
that  enter  and  compose  the  body  later  are 
less  plastic. 

And  so  with  old  age.  We  have  not  learned  it. 
There  should  be  no  loss  of  faculty ;  the  mind 
should  become  deeper  and  wiser  with  the  gath- 
ering years.  Certainly  faculties  whose  use  ap- 
plies mainly  to  the  earlier  years  and  the  life- 
work  of  middle  manhood,  will  be  voluntarily 
left  in  disuse  to  make  way  for  others,  just 
as  when  a  man  becomes  the  head  of  a  business 
he  spends  no  more  time  in,  say  book-keeping 
or  type-writing.    He  attends  to  higher  matters. 

Life  should  of  course  be  spiritual  all 
through,  but  old  age  should  be  specially  so. 
Genius  and  wisdom  should  go  on  ripening  to 


28  ELEMENTARY  THEOSOPHY 

the  very  end.  (Genius  belongs  of  course  to  the 
spiritual  nature,  and  the  word  spiritual  is  here 
throughout  used  in  a  sense  much  wider  than 
the  ordinary.  It  applies  to  all  of  man's  high- 
est faculties.)  A  clearer  vision  of  truth  is 
possible  to  old  age  than  to  the  years  when 
physical   activities   run   high. 

At  last  comes  a  moment  when  the  body  as 
a  whole  is  worn  out ;  the  lives  that  compose  it 
have  to  return  to  nature  to  be  re-energized. 
Without  disease,  without  failure  of  any  spe- 
cial organ  in  advance  of  any  of  the  rest,  the 
body  should  be  laid  aside.  Death  in  that  ideal 
form  will  be  without  pain,  perfectly  peaceful, 
rapid,  and  not  attended  by  any  break  in  the 
consciousness  of  the  soul. 

And  in  due  course  the  soul  will  begin  once 
more  to  give  its  attention  to  birth.  No  more 
than  death,  will  birth  mean  any  break  in  the 
thread  of  consciousness.  Gradually  the  soul 
will  pour  all  its  acquired  wisdom  and  thought- 
stores  into  the  new  brain  and  proceed  with  its 
growth  and  work  absolutely  unhindered. 

But  this  ideal  program,  which  we  have  to 


REINCARNATION  29 

realize  and  which  will  mean  such  rapid  growth, 
is  not  achieved  yet.  We  have  much  to  learn. 
Nevertheless  now,  if  we  give  our  bodies  right 
exercise  daily,  and  if  we  keep  a  spiritual  ideal 
of  conduct  and  thought  always  in  view,  we 
need  fear  neither  old  age  nor  death.  The  one 
will  not  mean  second  childhood  nor  the  other 
any  wrench  of  pain. 


VI 
KARMA 

A     MAN'S  DEEDS  COME  BACK  TO  HIM  ;  ThAT 
'^^        WHICH   A   MAN   SOWS,   THAT   SHALI.   HE 

ALSO  reap;  Cast  thy  bread  upon  the  wa- 
ters AND  IT  SHALL  COME  BACK  AETER   MANY 

DAYS,  —  are  three  sayings  which  contain  a  law 
belonging  as  sister  to  the  law  of  Reincarn- 
ation. To  Theosophists  it  is  known  as  Karma. 
The  punishment  aspect  of  it  the  Greeks  called 
Nemesis;   but  that  is  only  half  of  it. 

It  belongs  to  the  law  of  Reincarnation  be- 
cause there  is  not  time  in  any  one  life  for  all 
the  deeds  a  man  does  therein  to  come  back  to 
him.  They  come  back  to  him  because  they 
are  his. 

Whenever  we  do  anything  at  all,  purpose- 
fully, we  do  three  things,  though  we  ordin- 
arily think  of  one  only.  Consider,  for  exam- 
ple, theft,     (a)    The  thing  visibly  done  is  the 


KARMA  31 

taking  of  some  one  else's  property,  (b)  In- 
visibly, a  change  of  character  for  the  worse  is 
made;  this  shows  itself  in  the  fact  that  what- 
ever is  done  once  is  easier  to  do  the  second 
time,  (c)  The  third  thing,  also  invisible,  is 
that  the  world's  atmosphere,  in  which  we  all 
share,  in  which  our  minds  lives  as  our  bodies 
live  in  the  common  air,  is  poisoned.  An  evil 
wave  has  been  sent  into  it.  This  wave,  in  how- 
ever slight  degree,  does  act  on  and  affect  the 
minds  of  all  other  men.  The  world  is  hard 
enough,  cold  enough,  selfish  enough  as  it  is; 
this  wave  worsens  it.  The  minds  of  men  be- 
come by  it,  in  however  slight  degree,  more  sus- 
picious, more  grasping,  harder.  They  feel, 
though  without  noticing  it,  an  increase  in  what 
we  might  call  the  thief  element.  Of  course 
the  wave  sent  out  by  one  single  act  of  theft  is 
very  slight.  But  when  we  multiply  it  by  mil- 
lions every  year,  we  can  understand  why  the 
world  is  as  it  is.  Each  of  the  millions  has 
broken  the  harmony  that  should  have  been, 
the  harmony  between  men  in  act  and  thought, 
which  must  some  time  come  about. 


32  BLBMBNTARY  THBOSOPHY 

A  whole  life  may  be  spent  in  undetected 
and  unpunished  theft.  But  it  was  all  regis- 
tered; the  successive  acts  were  written  deeper 
and  deeper  on  the  man's  character;  and  they 
sent  successive  waves  into  the  world's  atmos- 
phere. To  that  atmosphere,  which  he  helped 
to  make,  with  that  character,  which  he  entirely 
made,  the  man  comes  back.  The  echo  of  his 
own  past  deeds  returns  to  him,  finding  an  ex- 
actly answering  echo  in  his  nature.  All  the 
world  tendencies,  the  effects  of  all  the  deeds 
ever  done  by  man,  come  flooding  in  upon  him, 
as  they  do  on  all  of  us.  Some  find  no  echo  in 
his  character  —  he  may,  for  example,  have  no 
tendency  to  murder.  He  will  be  tempted  only 
by  those  that  do  have  their  echo  in  his 
character. 

All  is  now  ready  for  the  opportunity.  When 
that  comes,  what  will  happen  ?  What  is  likely 
to  happen?  He  falls  under  the  load  of  im- 
pulse he  built  into  himself. 

The  "luck"  not  to  be  found  out  (if  it  can 
be  called  luck)  which  he  enjoyed  before,  some 
time  or  other  now  fails  —  perhaps  on  the  very 


KARMA  33 

first  occasion.  Then  there  is  a  calamity,  dis- 
grace. By  that  he  may  learn  to  reform,  or 
many  such  may  be  necessary,  extending  per- 
haps over  more  than  one  life.  They  go  on 
happening  until  at  last  he  is  strong  enough  to 
receive  out  of  the  world's  atmosphere  his  own 
current,  find  its  echo  in  his  own  nature,  and 
yet  refuse  to  yield.  When  there  is  no  longer 
that  echo,  the  battle  is  finally  won  there.  The 
man  has  fought  and  neutralized  that  much 
evil;  he  has  cleared  the  world's  atmosphere 
of  that  much  of  the  stain  which  he  made  in 
his  thefts. 

This  is  one  aspect  of  the  law  of  Karma, 
the  coming  back  of  evil  deeds.  The  law  can 
not  "  forgive  "  anything,  for  that  would  be  to 
leave  our  characters  still  weak.  True  for- 
giveness is  done  by  man  himself  when  he  turns 
so  strongly  to  his  higher  nature  that  he  be- 
comes at  one  with  it.  After  that  he  can  face 
the  echoes  of  his  own  deeds  without  fear; 
they  find  no  answer  in  his  own  nature. 

There  are  many  other  aspects,  for  the  law  is 
really   an   explanation   of   life.      Good   deeds 


34  BLBMBNTARY  THBOSOPHY 

come  back  as  certainly  as  bad  ones.  He  who 
does  a  good  deed  sweetens  the  world's  atmo- 
sphere and  his  own  character.  The  current 
comes  back  as  an  urge  to  repeat  them,  finds 
an  echo  in  his  character,  and  goes  back  to 
others  with  the  benediction  of  some  new  good 
deed.  The  world  is  bettered,  its  burdens  eased 
a  little.  The  man  has  the  inner  joy  and  peace 
of  harmony  with  his  divine  nature ;  just  as,  by 
the  other  kind  of  action,  he  has  unrest  within 
and  without.  Ill  deeds  bring  inner  unrest  and 
outer  pain ;  good  deeds,  inner  peace  and  outer 
harmony.  With  both  hands  this  law  helps  us 
on  to  our  greater  destiny,  to  the  real  life  to 
come. 

But  Karma  goes  even  deeper;  it  replies  to 
defects  of  character  which  are  not  seen  to  in- 
jure others.  We  shall  understand  if  we  re- 
member that  its  aim  is  to  develop,  to  restore  us 
to  our  proper  and  highest  nature.  It  meets 
our  weaknesses  with  tonics,  and  tonics  are 
sometimes  bitter.  Wiser  eyes  than  those  of 
ordinary  men  are  needed  to  follow  its  work 
in  individual  cases;  but  the  general  principles 


KARMA  35 

are  easy  enough  for  a  child  to  grasp.  Some 
men  meet  seemingly  unmerited  disgrace. 
Where  is  the  justice  of  it?  Others  close  their 
lives  in  the  prolonged  pain  of  some  slow  mal- 
ady. Where  here  is  justice?  In  man's  own 
former  thoughts  and  deeds.  It  is  nature's 
response  to  character. 

We  must  try  to  take  nature's  long  view  if 
we  would  understand  her  work  in  its  bene- 
ficence. In  such  cases  as  we  have  supposed, 
there  must  be  a  failure  somewhere  needing 
correction,  some  flaw  in  character  needing 
strengthening.  Some  characters  only  bring 
forth  their  finest  flower  after  great  pain.  The 
pain  is  transient,  the  flower  eternal ;  and  it  was 
the  flower  that  nature  wanted  to  secure.  Per- 
haps there  was  a  latent  love  of  others'  good 
opinion,  which,  uncured,  remained  a  weakness 
and  might  have  led  on  to  all  kinds  of  evil,  hy- 
pocrisy, ambition,  vanity.  The  weed  is  now 
uprooted.  But  in  the  last  life  it  may  have 
been  very  luxuriant  —  leading,  it  may  be,  to 
some  marked  sin  or  crime.  Karma  carried 
that  over  to  the  next  page  of  her  ledger,  the 


36  ElEMBNTARY  THEOSOPHY 

next  life.  But  the  possibilities  in  details  are 
endless. 

Physical  pain,  again,  often  calls  forth  the 
most  magnificent  endurance,  strengthening  the 
will  in  some  cases  as  nothing  else  can.  In 
such  a  case  it  could  be  crudely  described  as 
punishment  for  the  lack  of  endurance  and  pa- 
tience ;  or,  more  correctly,  as  a  difficult  bit  of 
nature's  beneficent  training.  A  good  deal  of 
the  work  of  Karma  is  to  call  our  attention  to 
failings  of  which  we  were  before  unconscious, 
and  to  give  us  the  opportunity  to  correct  them. 

So  the  Theosophist  sees  in  the  workings  of 
Karma  a  law  which  is  wholly  beneficent,  which 
"  punishes  "  and  "  rewards  "  for  one  sole  pur- 
pose—  the  evocation  of  the  Soul.  It  works 
behind  and  through  every  event  of  our  lives. 
Nor  are  its  ways  inscrutable.  If  we  watched 
all  that  happened  to  us  from  day  to  day  and 
from  year  to  year,  noted  what  duties  came  up 
to  be  done,  what  pains  and  pleasures  came  into 
our  path,  what  accidents  befell  us  —  if  we 
watched  instead  of  complaining,  we  should 
find  that  at  every  turn  we  were  being  ofifered 


KARMA  37 

opportunity  for  growth  of  will,  of  mind,  of 
character.  If  outer  life  is  monotonous,  there 
is  the  opportunity  to  light  up  the  outer  life 
with  the  radiance  of  the  inner  life,  with  the 
companionship  of  the  divine.  If  outer  life 
is  painful,  it  is  the  opportunity  to  develop  will 
and  endurance.  And  if  we  stop  the  fierce 
wish  to  escape  pain  and  procure  pleasure,  put- 
ting that  much  force  into  compassionate  deed 
and  thought,  we  should  find  our  minds  grow 
steadily  clearer  in  comprehension  of  this  law 
and  its  purpose.  There  are  no  accidents. 
Whatever  happens  we  have  ourselves  brought 
about  in  this  or  some  other  life.  We  have 
done,  or  left  undone,  and  the  effects  of  both 
constitute  our  environment  and  the  stream  of 
events. 

Our  deeds  of  yesterday  are  the  parents 
of  the  events  of  today,  and  events  are  the 
mask  of  opportunity.  They  press  on  us  from 
without,  as  our  divine  will  does  from  within 
—  both  in  the  same  direction.  Karma  waits 
at  our  side  and  when  we  have  acted  or  not 
acted,  she  adjusts  the  effect  so  as  to  teach 


38  ELBMBNTARY  THBOSOPHY 

and  train  us.  We  have  freewill;  the  future 
is  absolutely  in  our  hands.  Karma,  if  we  so 
choose,  will  show  us  her  face  as  friend;  it  is 
always  inner  peace  for  those  who  walk  with 
her.  She  is  always  the  friend  of  those  who 
make  themselves  the  friends  of  humanity,  who 
develop  every  faculty  and  talent  and  strength 
of  their  nature  that  they  may  serve  humanity 
the  better. 


VII 

THE  SEVEN  IN  MAN  AND  NATURE 

\X7 HEN,  as  children,  we  begin  our  study  of 
^^  science,  we  are  told  that  matter  exists 
in  three  states  —  solid,  liquid  and  gaseous. 
That  does  very  well  as  a  first  step.  In  the 
same  way  the  student  of  Theosophy  will  begin 
by  Paul's  division  of  human  nature  into  body, 
soul  and  spirit. 

But  in  both  cases,  as  soon  as  we  come  close 
to  the  subject,  we  find  that  the  three  will  not 
do,  will  not  carry  us  far  beyond  the  threshold 
of  our  study.  Human  nature,  and  nature 
without,  are  alike  seven-iold.  The  number 
seven  runs  across  the  pattern  in  every  direc- 
tion. Science  knows  of  many  sevens,  but  she 
has  not  yet  learned  to  regard  seven  as  a  sort 
of  abstract  map  by  means  of  which  she  could 
walk  much  faster  in  every  field  of  investiga- 
tion.    For  ages,  Theosophy  has  known  it  to 


40  BIEMBNTARY  THEOSOPHY 

be  one  of  the  keys  to  which  the  universe  is 
tuned.  Let  us  study  it  first  in  the  nature 
which  is  outside  us. 

The  finest  particles  of  ordinary  matter  are 
called  molecules.  Sometimes  these  fly  free 
from  each  other ;  that  we  call  the  gaseous  state 
of  matter. 

But  short  of  that  entire  freedom  there  is  the 
liquid  state,  where  the  molecules  move  readily 
around  each  other,  but  remain  in  closer  con- 
tact. 

And  thirdly  there  is  the  solid  state.  But  of 
this  there  are  two  divisions,  the  crystalline 
and  the  colloid  or  gelatinous.  And  again,  of 
the  colloid  there  are  two  conditions,  living  and 
not  living.  The  flesh  of  man  and  animals  and 
the  growing  tissues  of  plants  are  composed 
of  living  colloid. 

In  all  these  states  matter  is  molecular,  exists 
as  molecules.  But  under  certain  conditions 
the  molecules  break  up  into  the  still  smaller 
particles  called  atoms.  We  then  have  atomic 
matter,  said  to  constitute  one  of  the  sets  of 
"  rays  "  emitted  by  radium. 


SEVEN  IN  MAN  AND   NATURE        41 

And  again,  the  atoms  themselves  may  break 
up  into  the  still  finer  particles  called  corpuscles 
or  electrons.  These  constitute  still  another 
set  of  "  rays." 

So  from  this  point  of  view  the  seven  states 
of  matter  are: 

(1)  Corpuscular* 

(2)  Atomic 

(3)  Gaseous 

(4)  Liquid 
Molecular               (5)  Living  Colloid 

(6)  Inanimate  Colloid 

(7)  Crystalline 

But  the  seven  runs  across  nature  in  another 
way.  A  famous  Russian  chemist  found  that 
if  all  the  elements  known  to  chemistry  were 
arranged  one  after  another  in  the  order  of 
their  (atomic)  weights,  beginning  with  the 
lightest,  the  eighth,  fifteenth,  twenty-second, 
and  so  on,  had  similar  properties  to  the  first; 

*  Strictly  speaking,  the  word  "  corpuscular  "  were 
better  applied  to  what  modern  science  now  calls 
"  atomic,"  and  vice  versa.  But  the  terms  are  now 
crystallized  into  a  set  usage  and  are  adopted  for 
convenience  as  above. 


42  BLBMBNTARY  THBOSOPHY 

the  ninth,  sixteenth,  and  so  on,  to  the  second. 
Thus  it  became  clear  that  there  was  a  natural 
arrangement  of  all  the  chemical  elements  into 
seven  great  families. 

The  seven  notes  of  the  musical  scale,  and 
the  seven  colors  of  the  prismatic  scale,  are 
of  course  familiar  to  every  one. 

In  respect  to  motion,  the  American  mathe- 
matician Southwell,  dealing  with  the  nebular 
theory,  has  also  worked  out  a  natural  seven 
which  he  thus  states : 

If  two  masses  are  moving  in  the  same  plane  and 
at  the  same  mean  distance  from  the  sun  and  are 
situated  at  an  angular  distance  greater  than  60° 
and  less  than  180°  from  each  oher,  as  viewed  from 
the  sun,  their  mutual  peturbations  will  cause  them 
to  approach  each  other  until  the  distance  becomes 
equal  to  60°. 

But  if  they  are  nearer  than  60°  to  each  other, 

their  mutual  peturbations  will  cause  them  to  re- 
ced$  from  each  other  until  their  distance  apart  be- 
comes equal  to  60° ;  and  they  will  always  remain 
in  a  condition  of  stable  equilibrium  at  that  distance 
apart,  and  will  revolve  around  the  sun  forever  free 
from  mutual  disturbance. 


SEVEN  IN  MAN  AND   NATURE        43 

Sixty  degrees  is  of  course  a  sixth  of  a  circle, 
which  with  the  controUing  center  occupied  by 
the  sun,  gives  the  seven. 

Theosophy  goes  further  than  any  of  this. 
To  the  higher  students  it  is  shown  that  that 
one  form  of  matter  which,  as  we  have  seen, 
exists  in  seven  states,  is  itself  the  seventh  of 
a  greater  series.  And  that  that  white  light 
(white  to  our  vision)  which  breaks  up  into 
our  seven  colors,  is  itself  a  member  of  a  set 
of  seven  lights,  none  really  "white,"  but  stand- 
ing to  ultimate  light  as  one  of  our  spectrum 
colors  stands  to  the  light  we  call  white. 

But  here  we  are  of  course  far  beyond  the 
realm  of  present  human  senses.  Yet  in  the 
course  of  special  training,  and  much  more 
slowly,  yet  inevitably,  for  us  all  in  the  normal 
course  of  our  evolution,  all  these  scales  will 
become  evident  to  us. 

Theosophy  also  concurs  with  the  proverb 
which  gives  man  seven  senses,  two  of  which 
in  most  people  are  almost  inactive,  dealing 
with  finer  forms  and  essences.  Some  idea  of 
the  sixth  of  these  may  be  gained  from  a  study 


44  ELEMENTARY  THEOSOPHY 

of  the  life  of  the  woman  known  as  the  Seeress 
of  Prevorst.  In  her  however  it  was  abnorm- 
ally and  prematurely  unveiled  by  a  peculiar 
form  of  ill-health. 

Man  as  a  part  of  greater  nature  must  of 
course  exhibit  the  seven  in  many  ways.  A 
subsequent  Manual  will  deal  at  length  with  the 
most  radical  and  essential  of  these  sevens.  It 
will  suffice  here  merely  to  note  it  briefly. 

Most  obvious  of  the  seven  is  of  course  his 
body,  technically  called  the  sthula-sartra. 
But  within  it  is  another,  made  of  altogether 
subtler  matter,  the  astral  model  body  or  linga- 
sarira.  And  it  is  because  of  the  presence 
of  this  other,  which  is  as  it  were  a  sort  of  ar- 
chitect's plan,  that  the  millions  of  separate 
cells  are  able  to  arrange  themselves  in  har- 
mony, to  form  coherent  organs,  and  to  assume 
separate  forms  for  the  discharge  of  separate 
kinds  of  work.  It  is  this  which  translates  latent 
life,  omnipresent  in  space,  into  life  or  prdna, 
adapted  for  the  use  of  the  cells.  Shortly  after 
death  its  remains  are  occasionally  visible  as 
the  "  spook  "  of  so  many  ghost  stories. 


SEVEN  IN  MAN  AND   NATURE        45 

Here  then  we  have  three  of  the  human 
principles  —  the  visible  body,  the  subtler  "  ar- 
chitect's plan  "  body,  and  the  vital  force.  The 
last,  Theosophy,  disagreeing  on  this  point 
with  current  physiology,  teaches  to  be  a  form 
of  energy  peculiar  to  itself. 

Let  us  note  now,  for  the  fourth  principle, 
that  by  "body"  Paul  meant  the  animal  desires 
of  the  body,  or  kdma  rupa.  These,  in  too 
many  cases,  dominate  the  man.  But  if  he 
would  be  really  man,  would  really  show  him- 
self to  be  a  soul,  he  must  reverse  that.  It 
is  through  thought  that  he  begins  to  establish 
himself  as  a  man.  Mind  or  Manas,  is  the 
fifth  of  the  human  principles.  Animals  show 
the  first  traces  of  it,  but  they  cannot  even 
begin  that  inquiry  which  seeks  an  answer  to 
the  question.  What  am  If  They  are  living 
units,  and  inwardly  indestructible;  but  they 
are  not  yet  .y^ //-conscious  souls. 

The  sixth  principle  or  buddhi,  is  the  crown 
of  mind,  that  department  of  man's  conscious 
nature  from  which  come  the  inspirations  of 
genius.     Towards   it  ascend  in  their  highest 


46  ELEMENTARY  THEO SOPHY 

moments  the  musician,  the  poet,  the  artist.  It 
is  the  soul  in  its  own  essentially  spiritual 
nature.  What  it  knows  and  feels  when  it  is 
there,  what  it  sees  of  divine  truth,  it  must  as 
far  as  possible  bring  down  to  the  mind  for  ex- 
pression on  earth.  Much  is  necessarily  lost 
on  the  way.  We  all  know  that  there  are 
things  which  we  feel  but  to  which  we  can 
give  no  expression. 

Lastly,  the  highest  of  the  seven  is  Spirit 
or  Atnid,  that  which  sustains  all  the  rest  and 
is  their  life ;  that  which  may  be  felt  and  known 
in  the  heart,  but  whose  being  is  inexpressible 
in  any  kind  of  language.  All  the  religious 
wars  and  quarrels  that  have  ever  rent  mankind 
have  come  from  attempts  to  dogmatize  in 
words  and  terms  about  this  indescribable  pres- 
ence and  sustainer.  "  Theosophy,"  says  H.  P. 
Blavatsky,  "  as  a  whole,  is  based  absolutely 
on  the  ubiquitous  presence  of  God,  the  Ab- 
solute Deity ;  and  if  IT  itself  is  not  speculated 
upon,  as  being  too  sacred  and  yet  incompre- 
hensible as  a  Unit  to  the  finite  intellect,  yet  the 
entire  philosophy   is   based   upon   Its   Divine 


SEVEN   IN   MAN   AND   NATURE        47 

Powers  as  being  the  source  of  all  that  lives 
and  breathes  and  has  its  existence."  Man, 
however,  is  not  limited  to  his  "  finite  intel- 
lect," the  fifth  of  his  seven.  He  can  know 
with  another  faculty  which  to  intellect  is  un- 
knowable, that  which  by  language  is  inex- 
pressible. 

The  path  to  this  knowledge  lies  through 
aspiration  renewed  from  day  to  day,  medita- 
tion, duty,  compassion  towards  all  that  lives, 
self-mastery,  and  study. 


VIII 

THE  MEANING  OF  DEATH 

AX7HAT  then  is  death  according  to  Theo- 
^^  sophy?  It  is  not  at  all  the  horror  that 
the  world  has  made  it.  It  is  the  passing  of 
the  soul  into  its  own  nature,  for  rest.  In  life 
it  has  permitted  itself  to  become,  as  it  were, 
of  the  nature  of  the  body.  If  it  has  had  joys, 
it  has  had  pains  that  far  outweigh,  pains  of 
body  and  pains  of  mind.  It  needs  rest  from 
all  these  and  from  struggle.  Though  it  came 
from  the  Divine  and  is  divine,  in  the  case  of 
the  great  majority  of  men  it  has  never  yet 
recognized  that.  It  goes  to  the  temporary  rest 
and  "  sleep  "  of  death  with  all  its  purer  earth 
memories  clustering  around  it.  And  of  these 
it  fashions  its  unclouded  and  beautiful  dream. 
The  Divine  Law  shows  itself  at  its  tenderest, 
to  the  dead. 

But  the  "  sleep "  does  not  come  at  once. 


MEANING  OF  DEATH  49 

After  the  eyes  have  closed  for  the  last  time, 
after  pulse  and  breath  have  stopped,  life  lin- 
gers long.  And  in  those  first  hours,  while 
the  brain  is  yielding  up  its  stores,  and  the 
soul  is  watching  every  detail  of  the  now  closed 
life  pass  again  before  it,  there  should  be  si- 
lence and  peace  in  the  death  chamber.  Lov- 
ing thought  —  yes,  that  helps.  But  passion- 
ately expressed  and  selfish  grief  is  felt  by 
the  soul  as  a  disturbance,  hindering  its  work. 
For  as  memory  is  unpicked  to  its  last  fiber, 
the  soul  is  learning,  noting  in  the  clear  light 
where  it  failed,  where  it  sinned,  where  it 
achieved  victory  in  the  hard  life-battle  with 
the  thronging  lower  impulses.  Not  till  this 
is  done,  till  the  wheat  has  been  garnered,  is 
that  life  really  over.  But  at  last  there  is  the 
change.  A  sleep  begins  whose  dreams  are  un- 
clouded by  anything  evil,  anything  painful. 
The  soul  is  no  longer  conjoined  with  the 
source  of  evil;  it  rests  in  the  pure  divine  light. 
That  is  why  death  is  in  nature's  program 
—  that  the  soul  may  rest  and  progress.  And 
whilst  it  rests  it  is  out  of  touch,  mercifully. 


50  ELEMENTARY  THEOSOPHY 

with  life  on  earth.  It  can  neither  be  reached 
by  word  or  thought.  Nor  can  it  break  its 
rest  to  communicate  with  those  on  earth. 

Nevertheless  there  is  one  line  of  communi- 
cation both  ways.  The  pure  current  of  love 
from  those  on  earth  does  reach  it,  touches 
and  enters  the  dream  and  makes  it  more  living. 
And  in  return  its  love  for  those  it  left  behind 
touches  them,  strengthens  them  in  the  battle 
of  life,  helps  them  in  their  highest  efforts 
for  right,  purifies  them.  Except  for  this 
current,  zvhich  is  deeper  than  thought,  deeper 
than  zvord,  there  is  no  communication  pos- 
sible.    How  otherwise  could  the  soul  rest? 

But  the  rest  is  over  at  last ;  the  divine  light 
has  given  new  energy  for  another  life.  The 
dream  fades ;  the  soul  is  drawn  again  to  earth 
to  take  up  its  work.  It  comes  once  more 
among  those  with  whom  in  other  lives  it  has 
been  associated.  We  pass  from  birth  to  birth, 
resuming  old  ties,  making  new  ones,  suffering, 
rejoicing,  and  through  all  growing.  This  great 
human  family  is  ever  getting  closer  and  closer. 
As  a  man  will  find  some  old  acquaintance  un- 


MEANING   OP  DEATH  51 

expectedly  in  passing  through  some  foreign 
city,  so,  it  may  be,  there  is  already  hardly  a 
spot  on  earth  where  any  one  of  us  could  in- 
carnate and  not  find  some  he  had  known  in 
other  lives.  There  are  many  hates  still  to 
wear  out  between  man  and  man ;  every  one  of 
us  has  much  to  overcome  in  his  own  nature. 
But  we  move.  We  can  see  that  life  will  not 
always  be  as  now.  Sometime  there  will  be 
comradeship  universal  and  all  men  will  have 
awakened  to  their  divinity.  They  will  feel 
in  their  hearts  the  constant  presence  of  that 
Light  to  which  they  have  given  so  many  names, 
to  which  they  have  ascribed  such  diverse  qual- 
ities, which  sometimes  they  have  figured  as 
but  a  man,  a  personality  drawn  large;  some- 
times as  a  blind  force,  sometimes,  alas!  as 
an  avenging  fiend.  It  will  be  the  more  real- 
ly a  presence  to  them,  the  more  really  an 
ever  active  inspiration,  the  more  they  under- 
stand that  in  its  fulness  it  is  beyond  human 
imagining  and  description.  They  will  be  con- 
tent to  worship  at  the  point  where  thought 
ceases,  from  that  worship  gaining  perception 


52  ELEMENTARY  THEOSOPHY 

of  the  reason  and  goal  of  human  life.  From 
it  came  man's  soul ;  to  it  returns  that  soul,  yet 
never  more  to  lose  in  it  the  individuality 
that  is  the  thread  of  each  man's  series  of  ex- 
istences. Once  a  living  soul,  always  a  living 
soul.  Once  we  were  omniscient  because  we 
were  parts  of  its  omniscience.  It  called  us 
forth,  to  win  each  for  himself  omniscience. 
Yet  the  very  word  omniscience,  for  us,  is  for- 
ever relative.  When  we  have  learned  one 
nature,  which  is  its  robe,  and  tasted  to  the 
full  the  beauty  of  that  knowledge,  another  and 
higher  and  richer  will  be  ready  before  our 
eyes. 

Unhappiness  and  pain  were  no  part  of  the 
program.  We  made  them;  unbrotherhood  of 
each  to  each  made  them.  It  is  only  we  that  can 
end  them.  When  man  has  learned  to  turn  to 
his  fellowman  with  friendliness  and  compas- 
sion, with  the  will  to  give  instead  of  to  take, 
unhappiness  is  ended.  And  when  he  has 
learned  himself,  unwisdom  and  darkness  are 
ended. 


IX 

THE  SOURCE  OF  THEOSOPHICAL 
TEACHING 

T  T  follows  from  all  the  foregoing  that  there 
-*■  must  be,  somewhere  on  earth,  men  who 
have  fully  awakened  as  souls ;  who,  when  they 
incarnate,  are  not  dazed  by  the  new  animal 
life;  who,  when  they  die,  carry  on  the  un- 
broken thread  of  consciousness;  who,  life 
after  life,  have  therefore  been  able  to  add 
wisdom  to  wisdom. 

This  is  true,  and  there  have  been  such  men 
since  the  very  beginnings  of  life  on  this  plan- 
et. In  this  Lodge  of  men,  always  slowly  grow- 
ing in  numbers,  Theosophy  has  been  handed 
on  from  age  to  age,  from  century  to  century. 
Its  members,  reincarnating  in  particular  times 
and  places  according  to  human  need,  have 
founded  all  the  great  world-religions  —  aspects 
of  Theosophy  specially  adapted  to  those  times 


54  ELEMENTARY  THEOSOPHY 

and  places.  This  is  not  the  only  work  they 
have  done,  and  do,  to  further  the  world's 
progress;  :  but  it  is  the  one  with  which  we 
are  now  particularly  concerned. 

Nor  is  the  whole  of  their  work  done  by 
themselves  in  person.  Many  of  those  who 
have  in  every  age,  including  our  own,  worked 
strenously  for  humanity's  enlightenment  and 
welfare,  have  been  their  Messengers  and  pu- 
pils. The  names  of  some  of  these  —  rarely 
declaring  themselves  as  such  —  have  been  on 
every  tongue  and  are  prominently  written  on 
the  pages  of  history.  The  work  of  others, 
quite  as  necessary  and  effective,  has  been  be- 
yond the  recognition  of  the  historian. 

Upon  one  of  these  Messengers,  Helena  Pet- 
rovna  Blavatsky,  devolved  the  task  of  intro- 
ducing Theosophy  anew  and  under  that  name 
to  the  Western  world.  Christianity,  the  Theo- 
sophy of  Jesus,  was  fast  disappearing.  That 
great  teacher,  one  of  the  Lodge,  had  sounded 
the  keynote  of  Theosophy  two  thousand  years 
before.  At  first  the  world  paid  little  attention. 
When  at  last  it  did  so  the  greater  part  of  the 


SOURCE   OF    THE    TEACHING  55 

teacher's  words  were  lost.  Of  all  his  teach- 
ing but  a  very  fragment  remains.  And  this 
fragment,  sufficient  in  its  purity  as  a  guide 
to  the  perfect  Hfe,  was  soon  overlaid  by  the 
dust  of  fierce  controversies  which  have  never 
ceased,  adulterated  here  and  there  by  the 
fancy  of  successive  copyists,  and  obscured  by 
multitudes  of  cruel  or  meaningless  dogmas. 
A  new  presentation,  in  new  language  and 
adapted  to  the  thought  of  today,  was  urgently 
needed  by  men.  The  Christian  ranks  con- 
tained, as  always,  many  pure  and  lofty  souls 
full  of  the  spirit  of  unselfish  sacrifice.  But 
dogma  was  and  is  driving  away  thousands, 
and  the  tide  of  materialism  was  rapidly  rising. 
She  began  her  work  in  1875,  and  before  her 
death  in  1891  her  heroic  and  untiring  labors 
had  placed  the  Theosophical  Movement  be- 
yond the  possibility  of  failure.  Enemies  of 
every  kind,  men  who  saw  in  her  teachings  a 
menace  to  selfishness,  to  ambition,  to  dogma, 
gathered  thick  about  her.  She  had  to  face 
open  and  hidden  attack,  slanders,  libels  and 
calumnies  of  every  variety.     The  world  will 


56  ELEMBNTARY  THEOSOPHY 

learn  a  great  lesson  when  the  history  of  these, 
now  being  written,  is  published;  when  all 
the  threads  are  traced  to  their  source. 

At  her  death,  the  successor  she  designated, 
William  Q.  Judge,  took  up  the  work,  be- 
coming then  the  target  for  the  same  hostility. 
For  twenty  years  previously,  largely  under  her 
directions,  he  had  sustained  the  Movement  in 
America.  This  great  labor,  and  the  exclusive 
Leadership  of  the  Movement  throughout  the 
world  which  devolved  upon  him  at  her  death, 
finally  wrecked  his  health,  and  in  1896,  work- 
ing to  the  last,  he  died. 

The  successor  whom  he  in  his  turn  had  ap- 
pointed, Katherine  Tingley,  then  assumed  the 
Leadership  which  she  still  holds.  She  has  been 
recognized  by  every  member  of  the  Theosoph- 
ical  Society  throughout  the  world  as  a  real 
teacher  and  wise  leader.  So  profound  in  fact 
was  this  recognition  that  at  a  series  of  con- 
gresses of  the  Society  held  in  America  and 
various  other  countries  in  1898  it  was  resolved 
with  practical  unanimity  to  place  the  entire 
guidance   of   the   work   absolutely   under   her 


SOURCE    OF    THE    TEACHING  57 

direction,  and  to  accept  as  her  successor  whom- 
soever she  might  appoint.  The  Theosophical 
Society  at  the  same  time  was  merged  into  the 
larger  body  of  the  UnivERSai,  Brothe:rhood 
AND  ThKosophicaIv  SociETy^  the  full  and 
complete  title  being  The:  UnivERSai,  Brother- 
hood  AND    ThEOSOPHICAIv    SoCIETY. 

Theosophy  by  that  name,  secure  from  ad- 
mixture with  any  lower  currents,  is  thus 
henceforth  assured  to  the  world.  And  as  the 
world  moves  on  to  peace  and  brotherhood, 
more  and  more  of  the  ancient  wisdom  can  be 
given  to  it.  In  the  meantime,  within  the  Or- 
ganization, there  will  always  be  some  few  pre- 
pared for  those  higher  teachings  which  it 
would  as  yet  be  useless  and  even  dangerous 
to  sow  broadcast. 


There    is    No    Religion    Higher    than    Truth 


anD    Cf)eoj8fopftical    ©ocietp 


Established  for  the  benefit  of  the  people  of  the  earth  &  all  creatures 


OBJECTS 

This  BROTHERHOOD  is  part  of  a  great  and  uni- 
versal movement  which  has  been  active  in  all  ages. 

This  Organization  declares  that  Brotherhood  is  a 
fact  in  Nature.  Its  principal  purpose  is  to  teach 
Brotherhood,  demonstrate  that  it  is  a  fact  in  nature, 
and  make  it  a  living  power  in  the  life  of  humanity. 

Its  subsidiary  purpose  is  to  study  ancient  and 
modern  religions,  science,  philosophy,  and  art;  to 
investigate  the  laws  of  nature  and  the  divine  powers 
in  man. 

*  *  * 

The  UnivErsai.  Brotherhood  and  Theosophical 
Society,  founded  by  H.  P.  Blavatsky  at  New  York, 
1875,  continued  after  her  death  under  the  leader- 
ship of  the  co-founder,  William  Q.  Judge,  and  now 
under  the  leadership  of  their  successor,  Katherine 
Tingley,  has  its  Headquarters  at  the  International 
Theosophical  Center,  Point  Loma,  California. 

This  Organization  is  not  in  any  way  connected 
with  nor  does  it  endorse  any  other  societies  using 
the  name  of  Theosophy. 


The  Universal  Brotherhood  and  Theosophicai. 
Society  welcomes  to  membership  all  who  truly  love 
their  fellow  men  and  desire  the  eradication  of  the 
evils  caused  by  the  barriers  of  race,  creed,  caste  or 
color,  which  have  so  long  impeded  human  progress; 
to  all  sincere  lovers  of  truth  and  to  all  who  aspire 
to  higher  and  better  things  than  the  mere  pleasures 
and  interests  of  a  worldly  life,  and  are  prepared  to 
do  all  in  their  power  to  make  Brotherhood  a  living 
energy  in  the  life  of  humanity,  its  various  depart- 
ments   offer    unlimited    opportunities. 

The  whole  work  of  the  Organization  is  under  the 
direction  of  the  Leader  and  Official  Head,  Katherine 
Tingley,   as   outlined   in  the   Constitution, 


Do  not  fail  to  profit  b}'  the  following: 

It  is  a  regrettable  fact  that  many  people  use  the 
name  of  Theosophy  and  of  our  Organization  for 
self-interest,  as  also  that  of  H.  P.  Blavatsky,  the 
Foundress,  to  attract  attention  to  themselves  and  to 
gain  public  support.  This  they  do  in  private  and 
public  speech  and  in  publications,  also  by  lecturing 
throughout  the  country.  Without  being  in  any  way 
connected  with  the  Universal  Brotherhood  and 
Theosophical  Society,  in  many  cases  they  permit  it 
to  be  inferred  that  they  are,  thus  misleading  the  pub- 
lic, and  many  honest  inquirers  are  hence  led  away 
from  the  truths  of  Theosophy  as  presented  by  H.  P. 
Blavatsky  and  her  successors,  William  Q.  Judge  and 
Katherine  Tingley,  and  practically  exemplified  in  their 
Theosophical   work   for  the   uplifting  of   humanity. 


The    International    Brotherhood    League 

Founded  in  1897  by  Katherine  Tingley 
ITS  OBJECTS  ARE: 

1.  To  help  men  and  women  to  realize  the  nobility 
of  their  calling  and  their  true  position  in  life. 

2.  To  educate  children  of  all  nations  on  the 
broadest  lines  of  Universal  Brotherhood,  and  to 
prepare  destitute  and  homeless  children  to  become 
workers  for  humanity. 

3.  To  ameliorate  the  condition  of  unfortunate 
women,  and  assist  them  to  a  higher  life. 

4.  To  assist  those  who  are,  or  have  been,  in 
prisons,  to  establish  themselves  in  honorable  posi- 
tions in  life. 

5.  To  abolish  capital  punishment. 

6.  To  bring  about  a  better  understanding  between 
so-called  savage  and  civilized  races,  by  promoting  a 
closer  and  more  sympathetic  relationship  between 
them. 

7.  To  relieve  human  suffering  resulting  from 
flood,  famine,  war,  and  other  calamities ;  and,  gener- 
ally, to  extend  aid,  help  and  comfort  to  suffering 
humanity  throughout  the  world. 

For  further  information  regarding  the  above 
Notices,  address 

KATHERINE  TINGLEY 
International    Theosophical    Headquarters, 
Point  Loma,  California 


Boohs    Rccominciidcd  to    Inquirers 

For  complete  Book  List  write  to 
Ths  Thsosophicax.  Fubushing  Co.,  Point  Loma,  California 


Isis  Unveiled  (H.  P.  Blavatsky).  2  vols.,  royal 
8vo,  about  1400  pages;  cloth;  with  portrait 
of  the  author.  Point  Loma  Edition,  with  a 
preface.      Postpaid      4.00 

Key  to  Theosophy,  The  (H.  P.  Blavatsky). 
Point  Loma  Edition,  with  Glossary  and 
exhaustive  Index.  Portraits  of  H.  P.  Blavat- 
sky and  W.  Q.  Judge.  8vo,  cloth,  400  pages. 
Postpaid      2.25 

A  clear  exposition  of  Theosophy  in  form  of  question 
and  ansiver.     The  book   for   Students. 

Secret  Doctrine,  The  (H.  P.  Blavatsky).  The 
Synthesis  of  Science,  Religion,  and  Philo- 
sophy. New  Point  Loma  Edition,  2  vols.,  roy- 
al 8vo,  about  1500  pages;  cloth.    Postpaid  ...10.00 

Voice  oe  the  Silence,  The  (For  the  daily  use 
of  disciples).  Translated  and  annotated  by 
H.  P.  Blavatsky.    Pocket  size,  leather 75 


BOOKS     RECOMMENDED     TO     INQUIRERS 

Mysteries  of  the  Heart  Doctrine,  The.  Pre- 
pared by  Katherine  Tingley  and  her  pupils. 

Square  8vo,  cloth    2.00 

Paper    1.00 

A  Series  of  Eight  Pamphlets,  comprising 
different  articles  in  above,  paper,  each 25 

Life  at  Point  Loma,  The.  Some  notes  by 
Katherine  Tingley,  Leader  and  Official  Head 
of  the  Universal,  Brotherhood  and  Theo- 
sopHicAi,  Society 15 

Reprinted  from  the  Los  Angeles  Post,  Dec,   1902. 

Katherine  Tingley,  Humanity's  Friend; 
A  Visit  to  Katherine  Tingley  (by  John 
Hubert  Greusel) ;  A  Study  of  Raja  Yoga 
AT  Point  Loma  (Reprint  from  the  San  Fran- 
cisco Chronicle,  January  6th,  1907). 
The  above  three  comprised  in  a  pamphlet  of 
50  pages,  published  by  the  Woman's  Theo- 
sophical  Propaganda  League,  Point  Loma  . .     .15 

Light  on  the  Path  (M.  C),  with  comments, 

and  a  chapter  on  Karma ;   leather 75 

Embossed  paper  25 


BOOKS     RECOMMENDED     TO     INQUIRETIS 

Bhagavad  Gita  (W.  Q.  Judge,  Amer.  Edition) 

Pocket  size,   morocco,  gilt   edges    1.00 

The  pearl  of  the  Scriptures  of  the  East. 

Yoga  Aphorisms  (trans,  by  William  Q.  Judge). 
Pocket  size,  leather 75 

Echoes  from  the  Orient  (W.  Q.  Judge) ;  cloth     .50 
Paper       25 

21  valued  articles,  giving  a  broad  outline  of  the 
Theosophical  doctrines,  written  for  the  newspaper- 
reading  public. 

Epitome  of  Theosophicai,  Teachings,  An 

(W.  Q.  Judge),  40  pages     15 

Concentration,  Culture  of.     (W.  Q.  Judge)     .15 

Errors  of  Christian  Science,  Some  of  the. 
Criticism  by  H.  P.  Blavatsky  and  William  Q. 
Judge   15 

Hypnotism:  Theosophical  views  on.  (40  pp.)     .15 

Nightmare  Tales.  (H.  P.  Blavatsky).  Newly 
illustrated  by  R.  Machell.  A  collection  of 
the  vireirdest  tales  ever  vi^ritten  down.  They 
contain  paragraphs  of  the  profoundest  mys- 
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Paper    35 


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